Common passenger aircraft comprise a fuselage that holds a passenger cabin, the latter containing the passenger seats, the hand luggage compartments, the sanitary facilities and so on. The inside of such a passenger cabin is usually separated from the fuselage, the skin, and other structural parts of the aircraft by a lining with a plurality of lining panels adjoining one another. The passenger cabin is supplied by a data and power infrastructure that is essentially built up of electrical wiring and corresponding connectors that are often placed between the aircraft structure and the lining panels, such that the electric infrastructure is ‘hidden’ from the passengers. Specifically, a multitude of wires may be arranged in cable bundles, each wire being solidly formed with a circular profile that is surrounded by an insulation. The cable bundles may be anchored within fixed locations using brackets or similar holding components that in turn may be attached to the lining panels. Typically, strict requirements are put on the functionality, on the temperature and humidity resistance, as well as on the general safety precautions of such an electric infrastructure. Consequently, a strong focus is particularly placed on the robustness of the power and data cabling.
Recently, flexible electronics have been under close scrutiny within the regime of aerospace technology as these potentially offer lightweight and space saving alternatives to common cable systems. To this end, electronic devices may be mounted on flexible plastic substrates to provide flexible and flat cables for data and power transmission. These solutions typically require less space and weight than conventional cables. Moreover, such flat cables may simply be bonded to the outer surfaces of lining panels, wall segments, or the like. However, as in case of conventional cables, these solutions often involve laborious manufacturing and installation processes that are mostly separated from the assembly of the lining panels themselves. Convenient solutions have been suggested recently that integrate conductors directly into panel bodies, e.g. like the one disclosed in document US 2015/0053663 A1.
In general, any weight reduction can have significant impact on aircraft load and, in consequence, fuel consumption. In addition, it is desirable to provide an electric infrastructure with minimal installation and/or production effort. 3D printing provides extraordinary design freedom and hence it is widely used for manufacturing with multiple applications in engineering, construction, industrial design, automotive industries, and aerospace industries. Amongst various advantages, it offers the possibility to integrally form functional and structural elements into components, which otherwise—within conventional manufacturing—would necessarily require elaborate installation efforts.